Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mika Mimura was born in Osaka, Japan on April 18, 1978. She began to play marimba when she was 6 years old. She studied classical music at Osaka College of Music and finished her Master’s degree at the college. Inspired by pianist Makoto Ozone, she began her study of jazz vibraphone after graduation. She entered Berklee College of Music in 2004 and studied with Dave Samuels, Ed Saindon, Tiger Okoshi, and Ed Tomassi , among others.
Mika became a regular member of Phil Wilson’s Rainbow Big Band and Rainbow All Stars. In 2007 she performed with Greg Osby in 2007. She joined The BandA ecLectics, whose leader, Petros Sakelliou, had won the first prize at Thelonious Monk Institute Composition Competition. Together they played the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. She has performed many times in concert throughout the Boston, Massachusetts and New York City areas.
Vibraphonist Mika Mimura, who is currently a part of the New York City jazz scene, continues to energetically perform, compose and arrange in jazz or classical.
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Three Wishes
When Nica was hanging out with Bobby Hutcherson she inquired what three wishes he would ask if they could be granted and he told her:
- “I’d want to be happy. I’d want to be very happy.”
- “I’d want to be healthy. Strong.”
- “And play good music.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
Bobby Hutcherson: January 27, 1941 ~ August 15, 2016 | Vibraphone, Marimba
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph A. Venuto, Jr. was born on June 20, 1929 in Bronx, New York into an Italian immigrant family where he received his first drum kit from his grandfather. Having had lessons with Henry Adler, he moved on to Phil Kraus to learn mallet percussion. After earning a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, he became a member of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, with whom he made his first recordings Doodletown Races on the RCA label in 1953. He was a featured soloist with the orchestra on Solo for Joe and Swingcussion. The DownBeat Reader’s Poll voted him the best vibraphonist that year.
From the mid-1950s, Venuto worked with Billy Byers in the Westchester Workshop, the Kent Harian Orchestra, Bobby Dukoff, and the Johnny Richards Orchestra before joining Radio City Music Hall as a session musician in the recording and television studios. By 1959 he recorded his debut album for Everest Records under his own name.
Between 1953 and 1975 Joe was involved in 104 recording sessions with Jack Teagarden, Kenyon Hopkins, Rex Stewart, The Creed Taylor Orchestra, Irene Kral/Al Cohn Orchestra, Mary Ann McCall, Don Costa, Hal Mooney, Ruth Brown, Gene Krupa and His Orchestra, LaVern Baker, Budd Johnson, Marion Montgomery, Benny Goodman, Shirley Scott, Solomon Burke, Gary McFarland, Johnny Hodges, Hank Jones/Oliver Nelson, and numerous more.
the early 1970s when he was in his Forties, he left New York City and moved to Reno, Nevada. He met, married, performed and recorded with his wife, harpist Bev Colgan, in a harp/vibes duo. Percussionist Joe Venuto, who also played the vibraphone, marimba, bongos and drums, transitioned on Feb. 14, 2019 at age 89.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bryan Carrott was born in Queens, New York on April 23, 1959. After graduating from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and continued at the Manhattan School of Music before studying percussion with Morris Lang at Brooklyn College, then studied vibraphone with Dave Samuels at William Paterson University, receiving his Bachelor of Music degrees in Jazz Studies and Jazz Performance.
He has toured and/or recorded with David Fathead Newman, Ralph Peterson, Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Sam Rivers, Don Byron, Dave Douglas, Charlie Hunter, Bob Moses, Roy Campbell, Herbie Mann, Cassandra Wilson, John Lurie & the Lounge Lizards, Greg Osby, Tom Harrell, Bennie Wallace, Steve Kroon, Joe Batan, and Kip Hanrahan, among others.
Carrott is an assistant professor and coordinator of percussion instruction at Five Towns College. He is a clinician and has led educational performances across the United States, Taiwan and Taipai. A featured soloist with Cologne, Germany’s WDR Orchestra conducted by Gunther Schuller, he was a mallet percussionist for Disney’s Broadway production of The Lion King.
For seven consecutive years, Bryan was cited in DownBeat Magazine’s International Critics’ Poll in the vibe category for Talent Deserving Wider Recognition, and has been featured on several film soundtracks, including 3 A.M. with Branford Marsalis. He currently serves as coordinator & professor of percussion studies at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, N.Y.
Vibraphonist and composer Bryan Carrott, who also plays marimba, piano, and leads his own trio, quartet and quintet, has yet to record as a leader but continues to perform and teach new generations of musicians.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jimmy Namaro was born James Namaro on April 14, 1913 in La Rosita, Mexico however, his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario in 1921. This is where he studied piano with Sid Walling and Eric Lewis.
He made his radio debut as a marimba player on CHML, Hamilton, and was heard in his teens on CFRB, Toronto, and on the CBC. In 1933, he was assistant conductor of a marimba band at the Chicago World’s Fair. Namaro subsequently pursued dual careers as the leader of pop or light jazz trios and quartets in nightclubs in Toronto, Canada and New York and as a popular CBC radio performer.
As a member of the Happy Gang from 1943 to 1959, he was also bandleader or soloist on several other CBC radio and television programs before moving to the United States in the Seventies. He was music director for Frankie Laine 1978-1993, with whom he toured the USA, Canada, and the UK. Namaro moved to Richmond, British Columbia, in 1987, where he continued to compose and to work with Laine.
His discography includes LPs Between 1958 and 1972 he recorded for Sparton, RCA Victor, Quality, Camden and others originally produced by the Canadian Talent Library Trust (CTL). Namaro wrote many jingles and composed music for CBC dramas such as the TV series Seaway, for the Broadway production Andorra, and for ballet. His paintings, in the primitive style, have had several exhibitions.
Vibraphonist, marimbist, percussionist, composer, painter Jimmy Namaro, who was naturalized Canadian around 1945, transitioned in Richmond, British Columbia on April 25, 1998.
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